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User blog:DrBobSmith/How to Write a Creepypasta
There are a thousand and one recipes for creepypasta. Some are deliciously wicked, some fall utterly flat or even leave a bad taste in your mouth. This is how I do it. It may not be the best but it works for me. The first step is to have a feeling. Without any emotion, writing is soul-less. Creepypasta is spiced with creepiness and horror by definition. If either element is missing, it may be good but it isn't creepypasta. The feeling then turns into a part of the action. It may be only a few moments of that action, but there must be something going through my head that shows movement and life. I will try to make a story that fits together logically. Characters need motivations to do actions and those motivations should make sense. Unless a story is set in a place that I know very well, I will research the places I am going to use. That includes doing things like using google maps to "drive" roads. The little details can add so much to the story. Eventually, I have a pretty full picture of the story, enough that I could outline it if I had to. Sometimes I have written some notes or pieces but about now I begin the task of really writing. As I go, one of several things can happen: * It goes well. I had an idea for a story in Church and wrote it over one evening. * It needs something. I will usually then try a few ideas and research on the topic or historical period or people involved more closely. * It sucks. I get bored. Then I will move it and related notes into the "Scrap" directory. I figure if the story isn't holding my interest then it won't hold yours. One idea that bored me later came back with a twist and I think it came out pretty good. But I probably junk one story for everyone that gets on the website. Then I try to edit the story down. If I see something that doesn't move the story forward I delete it. Then comes the revision cycle. My English is definitely above average but I do make mistakes. I use computer grammar check tools a lot. That is a whole cycle I have covered elsewhere and will add additional details. I use this process to carefully check each sentence as a unit by itself. If I see something that doesn't move the story forward I delete it. If the sentence has mistakes, I take a double close look. As a general rule, the more mistakes the programs will find in a sentence, the less necessary it is to the story. At this point, I will post the story in the Writer's Workshop on the forum and I LISTEN to the feedback. There are a couple of people I figure are usually right. Just one of their opinions is enough to very seriously consider revising a story. If three people I don't trust as explicitly all say the same thing then I figure most people will say the same thing and I will seriously consider a revision. I don't just mean changing a punctuation error. I mean tearing the story apart. Nobody is always right. Even the person I trust the most on this forum is only right about 90% of the time for my stories. I will generally go through three rewrites in the Workshop. When I have received no new feedback in 24 hours, I will generally post the story. Category:Blog posts